BlindLove cart horse progress report
Animal Aid Abroad partner group, BlindLove have sent a report on the cart horses in the Thaba’nchu Free State in South Africa.
During the month of April our team from Agripreneur Farmers Institute held 5 outreach clinics in Thaba’Nchu with the cart horses and their owners.
Outreach dates were: 1 April, 15 April, 22 April, 26 April ( veterinery outreach with CCS vets), 28 April
This month we saw 51 horses. Numbers dropped slightly from last month because of all the Public holidays during April ( Easter and Freedom day in South Africa), also the weather was not great on some of these days, which resulted in less owners attending.
At these outreach clinics owners contact details are saved, all horses are recorded, given a body condition score, harnesses checked and adjusted where possible.
Horses are also treated for internal and external parasites ( ticks, flies, worms) and then any minor injuries are treated. The team also chats to the owners about the welfare and care other horses and what they can do to improve the lives of their hardworking horses. The owners are eager to learn and participate as can be seen in some of the photos showing them reading our simple flyer which focuses on and explains The 5 Freedoms for Animals.
Wednesday the 26th was our veterinery outreach with the CCS (Compulsory Community Services Vets) and the team got to meet Dr Gallow who works at the state veterinary clinic with Dr Arno. These young vets have to complete one year of compulsory community service after graduating and are often stationed in remote areas all over the country. Communities who previously never had access to vets now do.
At the outreach Friday 29th the team held a ‘Potjie Kos Friday’ for the owners that attended. A Potjie Kos is a traditional stew cooked in a cast iron pot on an open fire outside! With autumn in the air, while everyone sat around enjoying the warm sunshine waiting for the meal to cook (and the horses got to rest!), Boitumelo Legegeru who completed her Equine Welfare Training last year through The Cart Horse Protection Association chatted to the owners about horse care and welfare issues that needed to be addressed.
Harness Repair / Replacing is one of our major focus areas this year, but not without its challenges!
After purchasing the nylon webbing rolls which we are using to make the harnesses, and making contact with a couple of local people who have industrial sewing machines and offer their services to the public for general sewing /upholstery repairs etc, we thought it would be all systems go!!
After spending weeks working on our harness design (which needs to be fully adjustable), we went armed with all the bits and pieces of webbing strap and buckles and dropped them off to be sewn up! And although we finally managed to get 4 complete harnesses sewn up, the result still needs work!
These guys will need to learn to adjust their sewing machines’ tension settings, needles, thread etc to accommodate the thick webbing. So we are also now looking into the option of hand stitching here and there which might be a very viable option, as it means we could then also teach/ set up one or more of the cart horse owners in the community itself to hand stitch / repair/ make harnesses when needed with the added benefit of generating extra income for himself / family .
The 4 complete harnesses have been given to a couple of the owners to test for us and we are now waiting for their feedback.
Stay tuned for further news on this from BlindLove.
